


Dear Annie: I Think My New Friend Is A K-pop Star?

by Ardene



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - K-pop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music, M/M, idiots being idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23082985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardene/pseuds/Ardene
Summary: Keith used to be a member of one of the largest boy bands in the world. After an incident that forced him to leave the world of K-pop, he decided to come to America to finish his degree out of the spotlight.He thought he was content to move on a different path, but when Lance drags him along to a K-pop karaoke night, Keith realises that moving on is much harder than he thought.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 71





	Dear Annie: I Think My New Friend Is A K-pop Star?

**Author's Note:**

> This is nothing but a self indulgent love letter to K-pop. 
> 
> Groups mentioned in this fic are based on real groups, but should not be considered the actual group (otherwise my timeline of when songs were written will probably make no sense lol). Names of forum members and websites are whatever my brain spewed out, and are not based on any real person or organisation.

X•X•X•X

_This is a love story that doesn’t touch me at all  
There’s no butterflies, there’s no meaning  
Sorry but I’m not sorry  
From now on I’m_

_Shining solo_

(Jennie- _SOLO_ )

X•X•X•X

**The Final Member of LD’s Newest Boy Group Has Been Announced!**

Everyone is thirsty for more news about MAMORA (마모라), and today LD delivers! Here’s what they’ve released about their fifth and final member, translated from their Twitter account.

-His stage names is “K”

-His birth name is Keith Yeun

-His birthday is on October 23rd, 1997 (age 15)

-His position is Lead Rapper, Main Dancer, and Maknae

-He trained with LD for 2 years before his debut

-He was born in America (Texas, baby!) but moved to Korea when he was 8

They are set to debut on November 18th, so mark your calendars. It’s going to be huge!

xxx

**MAMORA’s Debut Video, “Don’t Stop”, Hits 1 Million Views In A Matter Of Hours!**

Good looks, even better sound, killer dance moves, and have you seen that hair?! No wonder they’re already hitting it big!

Click to read more

xxx

**On The One Year Anniversary Of Their Debut, MAMORA Announces Their First Japanese Tour**

Konnichiwa, MAMORA! Or should we say マモラ? Our boys sneakily hinted in a vlog that they will debuting a new single on tour. So make sure to check out their YouTube channel for their live performances!

xxx

**TOPIC: OMG they released the new MAMORA song a day early!!!!**

-KsMyBias-

Ahhhhhhhh I can’t believe it I am so happy I could DIE

-xXxSinisterVengeancexXx-

Meh. I’ve heard better. Also does K have a mullet? Wtf????

-KsMyBias-

YOU SHUT YOUR (redacted) MOUTH SINISTER VENGEANCE OMG

-mamoHOORAH-

I mean, his hair’s been getting kinda long for a while now. It is kinda mullet-y. But that’s also popular in Asia right now, LOL. Anyways, love the song!!

-KoreanboysCALLME- (BANNED)

W O W did you hear that rap? (redacted). Unf. So hot. I just. I can’t.

-this content has been deleted by a moderator-

-KsMyBias-

Uhh, you know K’s still 17 right? YIKES

-KoreanboysCALLME- (BANNED)

(this post has been deleted by a moderator)

-JasmineRice-

(this post has been deleted by a moderator)

-KoreanboysCALLME- (BANNED)

(this post has been deleted by a moderator)

-MintChocoChip- (MOD)

Guys, I am closing this thread. Remember that there are kids on here. Please.

(this thread has been locked)

xxx

**MAMORA’S K Finally Gets His Own Solo!**

Today marks K’s 19th birthday (Happy birthday, K!) and also the release of his solo, “Who I Am”. If you haven’t listened to it yet, what are you waiting for?!

We here on K-pop Insiders have scoured the internet to piece together the (almost) complete story of this song: how they decided on the music video, the meaning behind the lyrics, how K composed it (yes, he wrote it himself!) and what it means to K.

Log In or Sign Up to continue reading for only $1.99 a month!

xxx

**TOPIC: new mamora song! go listen!!!**

-eropeanAardvark-

(link)

loooooooooooook!!!

-KsMyBias-

YES YES YES

LOVE LOVE LOVE

-RedBloodBlackHeart-

Cool, I like the new bad boy vibe. Good song.

-JasmineRice-

Hmm, it’s okay. Here is who I think have the best main dancers in K-pop (worst to best)

(5) NINETEEN

(4) SPARKLee

(3) GOT8

(2) Little Bang

(1) Super Seonbae

-vanity-

Uh, literally no one asked

-europeanAardvark-

ngl im not sure im more offended that you posted this garbage on my thread or that you didnt put Lock in #1

(srsly tho stop pitting groups against each other theyre all amazing)

-KsMyBias-

ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO INSULT MY BOY???????????????

Tho I agree Lock is #1. You just don’t insult SPARKLee.

Anyways you see that 3M views already? NICE!

xxx

**MAMORA Dating Scandal Update!**

Two days ago, a picture was taken of K getting out of a car with actress Romelle during MAMORA’s American tour. LD has artfully diffused the situation by saying “No, K and Romelle are not dating. She was just his Uber driver.” (link)

It appears that Hollywood’s top star is falling on hard times.

(View all 476 comments)

**Related stories:**

MAMORA In The Top 100 For 30 Weeks Straight!

Romelle Donates $1M To Aid Disaster Relief

Are You Paying Too Much For Your Car Insurance? We Sure Are!

xxx

**TOPIC: I tried to learn the dance to MAMORA’s Fight Me and broke my foot**

-SunnyDay-

(pic)

Be warned. OUCH!

But the even bigger ouch is my hospital bill ;n; Hey LD, wanna help “foot” the bill? LOL

-KsMyBias-

Omg I couldn’t even imagine attempting that. Seriously, how do they do it???

-MintChocoChip- (MOD)

Oh no Sunny I’m so sorry to hear that!! I tried dancing it and I think I almost wound up in cardiac arrest. They should put a warning on the beginning of the video lol!!!

-vanity-

Warning: this dance should only be performed by trained professionals. Improper dancing could result in serious injury, or even death.

-SunnyDay-

Duuuuuude they could make a SICK song out of that. Dystopian reality where you dance…. or you die.

Quick someone who has twitter go tweet them!

xxx

**MAMORA’s Newest Dating Scandal! Turns Out It Was Just K’s Mom.**

You heard it here first, folks. Fans were freaking out when a fan picture was leaked of K hugging an attractive woman outside LD studios this Sunday morning. LD must have noticed, because they posted a photo of K and the woman with him together on MAMORA’s official Instagram, introducing her as his mom.

To be fair, she looks VERY young and VERY pretty.

And we know that she is, in fact, his mom (cough cough Uber scandal) because they also posted a picture of them on his first day of 5th grade. Go check it out, he is ADORABLE.

(link)

xxx

**An (un)Helpful Guide To MAMORA!**

**Doyun:**

  * Dotes on other members
  * Cries when accepting awards
  * Cries at sad movies
  * C r i e s



**Chun:**

  * Very smart, unless he is with K. Then is a complete and utter dumbass
  * Super pretty
  * Is ashamed at how much he loves American Chinese fast food
  * Chun, you were born in China
  * Chun, why do you like this westernized garbage
  * C h u n



**Jun Star**

  * Is baby
  * Probably secretly married to Jinho
  * Sees a dog, WILL PET THE DOG
  * Can’t cook to save his life
  * “HELLO, AMERICA FUCK YEAH!!!”



**Jinho**

  * Probably married to Jun Star
  * Can cook, probably the only one keeping this group from starving tbh
  * One time a pretty girl smiled at him in the audience and he was so flustered he walked off stage
  * One time phoned K to ask him to come home because there was a spider in the kitchen and he was too scared to leave his room
  * Just an all around disaster



**K**

  * Maknae
  * Smol
  * Knows like every dance on the planet???
  * Looks like he could kill you
  * Probably could kill you
  * But won’t kill you (because he’s secretly very sweet)



xxx

**TOPIC:** **why I am unstanning mamora**

-totality-

So you know how there was that video where a song would start playing and the members would dance along to it? K knew all the dances! He danced to ROSEWHITE’s Save This Love, and Black Forest’s Carrot Cake, (W)I-DLE’s Mademoiselle all perfectly! But he didn’t do the dance to THRICE’s QQ! Like oh my god you do not disrespect my girls like that! Obviously he doesn’t care about them and that was a blatant attempt at excluding them. Ugh. Unstanned.

-MintChocoChip- (MOD)

Uhh, you know that song’s been out for like a week right? And K got his appendix removed a week and a half ago? I don’t think he had time to learn how to dance it being in the hospital and recovering and all.

xxx

**MAMORA Announces Their New Album With A Brand New Single- Dance Or Die**

Today marks exactly six years since their first single, Don’t Stop. MAMORA have sure gone through some changes over the years- new hair (farewell to K’s mullet!), new clothes (anyone else going to miss Jun Star’s leather assless chaps? No?) new makeup (may their Hold On era’s winged eyeliner look rest in peace) but one thing will never change:

It’s a bop.

-comments-

(Anonymous) OH MY GOD SUNNY DAY SUNNY DAY SUNNYYYYY LOOK

(Anonymous) HOLY SHIT ANYONE ELSE HERE FROM THE KPOP BOPS FORUM? SOMEONE TELL SUNNY!!!!

(Jennifer) Cool, never heard them before. Gonna listen to more.

(Anonymous) Lol didn’t someone post something about breaking their foot on some forum and made a comment along the lines of this song?

(Mint) HOLY CARP Sunny you are a freaking legend, lol. That line, “It’s not just another sunny day” like… oh my god.

(load 281 more comments)

xxx

**TOPIC: did u guys see the assault charge**

-amberella-

(link) :-(

-vanity-

Yikes. I can’t imagine that K would just… punch a big wig at his company unprovoked, you know? It doesn’t seem his type. But I guess we only see the side of them that they present to the public, so who knows…

-KsMyBias-

NO NO NO what are you doing my boy. There better be a good reason behind this… or I have to change my username…

-MintChocoChip- (MOD)

Not to mention that’s kinda career suicide. Anyways, did you see Chun’s Weibo update? He basically said to not take things at face value. I think something happened.

-xXxSinisterVengeancexXx-

Okay so I don’t stan mamora, like at all, but my bias just updated her twitter. Sounds like he (as in LDs CEO) was being a total creep to her and the other girls in her group. He made a very inappropriate comment and K overheard. CEO creep started reaching towards the top of her shirt, saying how it was too low cut, and K came and pushed him away. She says he was trying to stop him from groping her.

-SunnyDay-

Yikes… I guess we will see what happens over the coming days.

xxx

**Update: K’s Assault Charges Dropped. More Members Of LD Come Out In Defence Of K**

So far twelve members of eight different girl groups have come forward in defence of K, stating that LD studio’s newest CEO, known to the public as Sendak, has made suggestive or inappropriate comments or gestures towards them. This trial has also brought to light the fact that Sendak has received several charges in the past for assault and sexual misconduct.

The fate of K, as well as Sendak, is still unknown as the trial enters its second week. No matter the result, it would seem-

To continue reading this article, please disable your ad blocker and turn on cookies.

xxx

**TOPIC: Anyone know if K’s gonna go back to music?**

-KsMyBias-

It’s been months since we’ve heard from him. I miss him. I want him back :(

-europeanAardvark-

i mean the last thing he posted was a pic on his instagram was of him holding his middle finger up and the text “bitch 나는 솔로” like 3 months ago so like i wouldnt have much hope tbh

-amberella-

I mean, couldn’t that mean that maybe he’s gonna do a solo career though? *hoping*

-RedBloodBlackHeart-

Ok so I’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, what happened? What does 나는 솔로 mean? I don’t know Korean.

-europeanAardvark-

basically its a play on lyrics from julies solo song, it means bitch im going solo

dunno if that means hes gonna do a solo career or just breaking up w ld or what

but ld said that they were parting ways w him so looks like his contract is broken

-JasmineRice-

Omgggg why can’t he at least say what he’s planning? Way to let your fans down K. Just say 1 way or the other. :/

-MintChocoChip- (MOD)

He’s been through a lot lately. Just give him some time. He will come back to us when and if he is ready.

X•X•X•X

_Everything’s hard ’cause you’re young  
Getting upset when you’re being nagged  
A child who used to only get scolded  
Barely passed twenty  
Happiness is just momentary?!  
It hurts ’cause you’re young_

(IU – _Palette_ , featuring G-Dragon)

X•X•X•X

**엄마** **-** 5:49 pm

How you doing? Your flight land yet?

Keith stopped scrolling through his news feeds to open up the text from his mother.

**You -** 5:50 pm

Yeah, just waiting for my luggage.

**엄마** \- 5:50 pm

I wish you didn’t go so far. Missing you already :(

**You –** 5:51 pm

I know. Had to get away for a bit though. Sick of people asking me what I’m going to do, I haven’t a clue. Hoping people won’t recognise me here and bother me about it.

**엄마** – 5:53 pm

You could have gone to China. I would visit you every weekend!!

Keith snorted at his phone. The baggage starting pouring out of the conveyer belt and he shoved his phone in his pocket, ready to get on with his life.

Being back in America was strange. Sure he was born here, grew up here, consumed American media, and was at least familiar with it, but every day felt so different from what he was used to. Moving in, getting settled, and starting classes seemed to all happen in the blink of an eye. Before he knew it, Keith was starting his second week of his third year of college.

“Yo, new kid!”

Keith turned around just in time to dodge a ball of energy in human form.

“Hey, exchange student!” The other student stumbled, barely catching himself, and turning around to look at Keith. “You! Yeah, you.”

Keith pointed at himself in confusion. “Me?”

“Yes you! Lance.” The student stuck out his hand.

“Lance?” Keith asked in confusion still pointing at himself.

“No, me Lance!” Lance shouted pointing at himself.

“You… you lance?” Keith asked, still in confusion.

“Yes, me Lance! You?” Lance held out his hands towards Keith. “You?”

Keith took a moment to stare at him and process what was happening. “Okay, you know what, I’m just confused. What about a lance?”

“Oh good, you speak English!” Lance let out a dramatic sigh of relief. “Lance, my dear boy, is my name. I’m Lance! And you are?”

“Oh. Uh, Keith.”

Lance scrunched up his nose. “Oh, like an English name. Like Chinese people do. Cool. Just curious, what’s your Korean name?”

“Keith.”

“Keith is a Korean name?”

“No, it isn’t.”

Lance stared at him again, mouth opening and closing a few times before finally spewing, “you know what? I’m gonna get to the point. You, you are new. You need friends. Me, I have friends. Many friends. You know how you meet friends? At karaoke night! Saturday at 6, meet you outside the library and we’ll walk together?”

“No thanks.”

“Great- make sure- wait. What?” Lance gawked. “What do you mean no?”

“I said no thanks. I have enough already. See you around.” Keith turned and with a small wave of the hand began to walk away.

It took a moment for Lance’s brain to catch up before he finally sprung into action, yelling “wait!” He grabbed the back of Keith’s jacket collar, pulling him back.

“Gah, you trying to choke me?” Keith yelled, tugging his coat back and elbowing Lance in the gut. Lance, in turn, hunched over in pain.

“Oh god, I think you just ruptured my appendix. Just like Houdini. God, Keith, I’m gonna die. Thanks to you. Do you know how much it costs to get your appendix removed? Like 30,000, minimum! I can’t afford that! I’m a broke college student!”

“Stop being dramatic.”

The two glared at each other for a moment before Lance finally sighed, relaxing a bit. “Okay, you know what, we started on the wrong foot here. I’m sorry. Hi Keith, my name is Lance, and I am in like three classes with you. I have never seen you talk to anyone, but your face is a solid 10/10 and it pisses me off that a guy could be that pretty and wow I didn’t mean to say literally any of that, but if you come to karaoke night on Saturday I will buy you beer. So much beer. As much beer as you want.”

“Are you hitting on me?”

“I wasn’t trying to, but I think I did. Anyways, can I give you my number? And you can decide later?”

Keith scrunched up his face before finally taking out his phone. “I don’t want any dick picks.”

“Okay, no dick picks,” Lance said, exchanging phones with Keith to type in his number, “but what about picks of my gorgeous abs?” He let out a seductive eyebrow waggle.

“Yeah, sure, fine.”

“Pffft calm down dude-wait what?” Lance squawked.

“See you around,” Keith smirked, and with a wave turned around, phone in hand, and walked away.

X•X•X•X

_A week goes round and round  
It’s too boring tomorrow will be just like today  
It’s there anything fun to do?  
What about getting out of here (Run the world)_

(fromis_9 – _FUN!_ )

X•X•X•X

Keith tried really hard to ignore Lance. He really did. The problem with Lance is he just kind of grows on you, like a wart. And it’s just too annoying and too much effort to get rid of and in the end it really isn’t all that harmful so you just leave it be so that it would some day go away on its own. Except unlike a wart, Keith was getting kind of fond of him.

He would never tell him that, though.

Currently they were walking out of their last class of the day, Lance chattering about his sister’s lack of a proper skin care regimen, while Keith was debating if it was worth it to drop 150 USD on a textbook he didn’t really want to read anyways.

“Honestly, she says she just throws on some sunscreen and calls it a day! Not even a toner! Sure she’s still young but she’s going to wind up with wrinkles by the time she’s 30, and I’m going to be the one who said I told her so. You have nice skin, you probably have a good skin care routine? Wait, of course you do, you’re Korean. Speaking of, have you thought about coming to karaoke on Saturday?”

Keith’s brain took a moment trying to follow the nonsensical segue and catch up. Honestly, he kind of wanted to go. It had been five months since he left the world of K-pop and the spotlight, and he missed it. Sure karaoke night is no where near the same, but sometimes you just want to sing and dance and have fun.

“Sure, why not.”

Lance looked at him with stars in his eyes. “Keith! I never thought you would agree! Oh I am so happy. So, so happy. It’s super fun, and yes, I remember that I promised to buy you beer. I do not back down on my promises. Scout’s oath.”

They parted with plans on when to meet and where (6pm, outside the campus library, like Lance had suggested when they first met) and Keith went home pondering his over excited reaction. Lance is just a weird, happy, excited guy. Like a puppy. He had no ulterior motives, right?

Keith was soon to be proven wrong.

“K-pop night? Really?” Keith asked, unimpressed, staring at the sign outside the campus pub.

“You are our secret weapon. Come on, Keith.” Lance grabbed Keith by the wrist, dragging him through the doors and up a table.

“Guys! Everyone! Hey!” Lance got the attention of everyone at the table. “Okay Keith, so meet Hunk, Shiro, Pidge, and Matt. Yes, those two are siblings. Everyone, meet Keith! Our secret weapon. And don’t worry, _this_ time I made sure he was actually Korean before bringing him along. Sorry Shiro.”

“It’s okay, I like Karaoke so it was still fun. Nice to meet you Keith!” Shiro grinned at Keith.

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” Keith awkwardly took an empty seat next to Shiro.

“So since we have eight groups competing tonight, it looks like there will be nine songs we have to perform in total,” Lance started going over the sign up sheet. “First round is sudden death, we only do one song. Second round it is best two out of three. Third round is best three out of five. There is six people in our group, which means three of us will sing twice. I say we put Keith in the first round, since he is our resident Korean and I want to get to round two. After that I will go, with Hunk and Matt. Round three will be of course Pidge and Shiro, then going twice will be me, Matt again, and Keith.”

“So have you actually heard Keith sing? Is he good?” Matt asked Lance.

“Nope, but I know he won’t let me down,” Lance answered.

“Do you… at least like K-pop?” Pidge asked him with a frown.

“Yeah, I like K-pop,” Keith answered honestly. “I’m okay going twice, and doing the first round.”

As Lance dropped off their sign up sheet, Hunk began to go over the song list with the group. “Okay, Keith since you are new, let me explain. They choose a random song for each contestant to perform. There is a set of songs for each round, so you only need to know the songs for the round you are preforming in. So for round one, you will be doing one of these songs here, round two will have us do one of these ones, and round three will be one of these ones. We compete against another group, and you and a person from the other group will perform the same song as you, and whoever gets more points wins the round. Points are awarded depending on what the judges give you for vocals and performance, and since it’s K-pop you get bonus points for doing the actual dance, and also you get points for how much the audience enjoys it. The criteria for that is that it just has to be recognisable as the dance. Uh, I guess we’ve all been practising these songs, but I’m not sure if Lance actually gave you the song list. He didn’t give Shiro one beforehand when he brought him to his first karaoke night, it was a disaster. Do you know these songs?”

Keith scanned the list. “Yeah, they’re all really popular. They played them on the radio all the time back home.” He wouldn’t admit to how whenever him and Chun were bored when filming a music video or waiting backstage at an awards ceremony, they would spend their free time learning the song and dance to all the new top singles.

He was a _beast_ on variety shows.

Also, he was not going to admit that he helped write and perform several songs on that list. That was not a conversation he particularly needed or wanted to get into.

While waiting for the competition to officially start, the table talked amongst themselves. Keith learned that all of them were engineering students, Pidge was not technically old enough to be in the bar (but by being friends with the manager and agreeing to wear a wrist band stating she can’t drink, they let her stay for the variety nights) and that Shiro was also an international student, coming from Japan the year before. He had joined their group of friends soon after arriving, being dragged along to a K-pop night by Lance.

“I was frantically listening to the songs on my phone before the show started, trying to familiarise myself with the songs. Thankfully, I got a MAMORA song, which is literally the only K-pop group other than THRICE that I know. But I still butchered all the Korean.”

“Oh what’s this?” Their conversation was interrupted by a girl sauntering up to the table. Her heels made a loud clack as she approached, and she dramatically flipped her ponytail over her shoulder when she stopped. “Got someone new for your team? That’s okay, you still aren’t going to win. Just face it, it’s hopeless.”

“Oh shut up, Ezor!” Lance growled. “For your information, Keith is _very_ talented, and he is going to be just what we need to finally beat you!”

“Talented at what? Being a twink?” A very buff lady came up beside Ezor, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Come on you two,” another lady sighed. “No need to be rude. Karaoke is supposed to fun.”

“What, Acxa, you’re defending them?” Ezor asked. “Is it because he kinda looks like that MAMORA guy you have a crush on?” Ezor snickered.

Acxa just sighed. “Come on, you two. Narti and Lotor are waiting for us.”

Once they walked away the atmosphere shifted to be much more relaxed. “God, I can’t stand that bunch,” Pidge muttered.

“They any good?” Keith asked.

“Oh they get _way_ too into this,” Matt spat. “I swear all they care about is winning karaoke night. They learn all the songs and harmonies, all the dances, it’s kinda pathetic.”

“And I’m guessing you’ve never won to them.”

The group’s silence said everything.

“Well, don’t worry. We’re going to win this time.”

“I appreciate your positivity, Keith,” Pidge sighed.

The lights dimmed, and a man walked to the centre of the stage. “Welcome to our third annual K-pop night!”

The crowd whooped and cheered.

“Now as we all recall, team Galra has won the past two years. Not to mention most of our karaoke nights. So I am asking you all- is it time we get a new champion?”

There were screams of “yeah!” and “destroy them!”. Galra had their reign, and now it was time for a new group to take the throne.

“As per tradition,” he continued once the crowd calmed down, “our champions will start off our night with their round one song. So come on up, Ezor!”

Ezor gave Keith’s table a wink as she sauntered up to the stage. “Good evening, everyone!” she shouted into the microphone. She was greeted with some clapping, as well as some booing. “Oh boo-hoo,” she rolled her eyes. “Come on, James, give me my song.”

The projector at the front of the room changed over to a computer screen, and James clicked on a button, a programme immediately shuffling through all the songs in that tier. The list slowed down until finally it stopped on a single song.

“Ezor is performing ROSEWHITE- Save This Love!”

Ezor gave another smirk. “I got this.”

Keith had to admit her performance was pretty impressive. It was very Rock Band-esque, her matching the singers’ tones almost dead on. She even did the dance quite well. If this was their round one, it’s no wonder why they keep winning. Keith looked to his team members. He could only hope they had what it took.

A few more rounds passed, none of them matching Ezor’s performance, before Keith’s name was finally called.

“Next up we have a complete newcomer to karaoke night- from team Voltron, please welcome Keith!”

“Voltron?” Keith asked. “What’s that?”

“Shh, that’s our team, now go!” Lance gently pushed Keith out of his chair.

Keith looked from the stage onto the crowd, and he had to admit, this was a little weird. He was used to big stadiums and even bigger productions, not tiny bars full of partially drunk college students. He looked to the overhead screen to see what he would be performing.

“Alright Keith, get ready for… BTN- Real Love!

Keith grimaced. It’s not the hardest BTN dance out there, but he was too out of practise to nail this. And even if he wasn’t out of practise, he still probably wouldn’t nail it, to be honest. And if he was going to go on stage, he was going to _nail_ this, dammit!

The projector switched over to the song lyrics, and he heard the first notes play.

And he sang.

X•X•X•X

_We go hard till we get it get it  
We go hard  
We so in it in it  
We POP/STARS  
Only winning winning now  
Ain’t nobody bringing us  
Down down down down_

(K/DA – _POP/STARS_ )

X•X•X•X

Okay, so Lance was a _little_ nervous. He hadn’t actually heard Keith sing. Or seen him dance (those bonus points are important!). Maybe he would be good, or maybe they would waste another year of K-pop karaoke and have to head home with their heads between their legs, none of them even getting a chance to perform.

He had a lot riding on this.

When the song was announced, he saw a slight grimace on Keith’s face. Oh no.

He didn’t got this.

As the intro started he turned to Matt, asking, “did I fuck up?”

Then Keith started singing.

His head snapped back to the stage, his mouth dropping open. Keith could _sing_. And not only could he sing- he could dance! Even while holding a microphone and wearing a pair of jeans which really have no reason to be that tight, we was nailing all the dance moves, as far as he could tell.

Or if he wasn’t nailing them, he was making whatever he was doing look _really_ good.

“Jesus Lance, where do you _find_ this guy?” Pidge asked him.

“I don’t know, he’s just in some of my classes! I didn’t know he was secretly some sort of idol!”

The group continued to stare in shock until the end of the song, where the bar erupted into applause.

“Don’t you think that this is over, just because you found some sort of weird super fan,” Ezor hissed to them as she walked past with a new round of shots for her table.

When Keith finally made his way back to the table he slumped into his seat. “Ugh, I’m too out of shape to do this. I should hit the gym.”

“What do you mean? That was amazing!” Hunk assured him. “Oh man, I can’t believe it! Where did you learn to dance like that? And to sing? Wow!”

“I butchered the dance,” Keith mourned, “I should DM BTN and apologise to them.”

The chatter died down as James went back to the front of the stage and announced, “Here are Keith’s results! Vocals- 10! Performance- 10! And audience enjoyment- 10! Plus he gets a 5 point bonus for nailing the dance! This means that Team Voltron moves on, and Team Olkarion, with their 21 points, is out!”

“I didn’t nail it. Just no one here knows how to dance,” Keith grumbled.

“You’re right,” a very posh sounding man with an English accent approached the table, “there were many flaws. I do not agree with the judge’s critique at all.”

“Shut up, Lotor, no one asked you,” Matt hissed.

“Why do you guys keep coming up and bugging our table? Do you have a crush on us?” Pidge shot at him.

“No, it’s just that I am impressed that someone here might actually pose a threat to us. But don’t worry, we will win. And we actually know the dance. I see you will be in the final round, as will I. I will look forward to facing you then, Keith.”

The table glared as he walked away. “Man, I know I didn’t do great, but he doesn’t have to rub it in,” Keith sighed.

“Dude, it’s karaoke night. You killed it. He just has to chill out,” Lance assured him.

After Keith’s performance, it was like a fire had been lit, everyone trying their hardest to wow the crowd. The dance moves were shaky, the Korean was near incomprehensible at times, and at least one person split their pants, but it was fun. Team Voltron made it to round 2, where they faced Team Balmera. Lance won his round, Hunk was unfortunate enough to face Shay, where he became a stuttering mess and wound up being a flop. Matt managed to pull it together to win his round, so they moved on to the finals.

To no one’s surprise, the other team in the finals was Team Galra.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Ezor drawled.

She stood opposite Lance, both them waiting to hear what their song would be.

“Come on, don’t act surprised. You knew that we would be here. After all, we’re the ones taking you down.”

“Unlikely. Come on, James, I’m bored.”

James set off the programme, it scrolling through the names before stopping on SLS- Red Dress.

“Oh come on, watching a boy dance this is just going to look terrible. I got this win already,” Ezor winked.

And sure, Ezor did a good job. But what she was missing was the passion in her moves. And Lance has nothing if not an abundance of passion.

“The winner, with 25 points, is Lance!” James announced.

“What?” Ezor shrieked.

“The audience enjoyed the performance, and he really put a lot of heart into those moves,” James explained. “I think I also might be a little bit traumatised. Anyways, next we have…”

Pidge lost her round to Axca, cursing the fact that she would rather die than do a cutesy THRICE dance. “It goes against everything I am,” Pidge grumbled.

Shiro won his round against Narti, thankful to get a MAMORA song again. He didn’t even try the dance, but neither did Narti.

“I would have given it a shot, but honestly I just didn’t want to die.”

Things were looking pretty good for Team Voltron, but despite getting Black Forest’s Carrot Cake as their song, and knowing that Zethrid hates the cute concept songs and looks quite terrifying trying to do a cute dance, Matt had an asthma attack part way through from trying to do all the dance movements and sing at the same time and had to drop out.

Lance was a little scared looking at Keith, who was their last hope, and was starting to look a bit sloshed (from taking advantage of Lance’s promise to buy him _all_ the beer), but was surprisingly steady when he took to the stage.

“May the best man win. And by that, I mean may I win,” Lotor cheekily stuck out his hand.

“Suck it,” Keith spat back.

“Ouch, did you hear that? Anyone?” Lotor pouted.

“Okay, let’s just pick a song, shall we?” James looked a little bit uncomfortable.

The programme spun the songs until they slowed down. Everyone held their breath.

“MAMORA- Don’t Stop!”

Keith smirked and looked towards his table. He mouthed the words, “We’re going to fucking win this.”

“What are you looking so smug for?” Lotor frowned. “Even I can’t do this song justice. Of course we would get the nightmare song for the last round.”

“That’s your own shortcoming,” Keith shrugged. He moved to the side so that Lotor could take the stage and do his performance.

Lotor did a passable job. He stumbled over K’s rap (which, admittedly, was the hardest rap he had ever been given), and he simplified the dance moves from the chorus. The judges were more lenient with their judging for this song, due to the difficulty and gave him a respectable 24 points.

“I doubt you can do better,” Lotor wheezed, catching his breath to the side as Keith took centre stage.

“I _know_ I can do better.”

Sure, Keith was out of practise. He hadn’t performed the song in over five months. He was also a bit drunk. But when the music started, it felt like coming alive. Like coming home. His body remembered every movement, his soul remembered every word. This was his song, this was him. And he was _not_ going to lose to some limey prick.

Once again, Keith’s table was at a loss for words.

“Are all Korean people like this?” Lance asked in a daze.

By the time K’s rap solo came, Hunk burst into tears. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it, it is just so beautiful. I never knew rapping could be beautiful.”

“Holy shit, we’re going to win,” Pidge began to tear up beside him. “We’re going to actually beat that table of assholes.”

“I think I might be in love,” Shiro breathed.

Matt, who had been silent until this point, staring at his phone, let out a sudden gasp.

“What?” Pidge asked him, sniffing and wiping away a tear. Matt’s head was whipping back and forth between Keith and his phone.

“Uh, guys?” Matt asked. “I think Keith is actually _from_ MAMORA.”

“Pfft, yeah, some K-pop idol just randomly came to some university in America and agreed to come to karaoke night with the promise of free beer,” Lance laughed.

“No, look at him! That’s him!”

“Matt,” Hunk gently put a hand on his shoulder, “I respect you a lot. And that is why I am telling you, that you are being racist.”

“What?”

“Not all Asian people look the same.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying! This is actually him!”

“If he really were some K-pop idol, he probably would have told us,” Shiro reasoned. “There would be plenty of opportunity for this to come up.”

“Plus haven’t you actually seen MAMORA live?” Pidge asked. “Shiro would recognise him.”

“Uh, yeah,” Shiro muttered.

“Just look, you guys!” Matt insisted.

“No, Matt. Let it go,” Hunk stared at him sadly.

Lance decided to take the bait, and grab his phone. “Which one?”

Matt pointed him out.

“Holy mullet, batman!” Lance laughed. “I feel like Keith would rather be dead than caught with hair like that. No way that’s him.”

The song reached the end and once again Keith was greeted with thunderous applause. Barely a moment passed before James was running with the judge’s results, “full points in every category! It’s amazing, but Keith did it again!”

If it was possible, the crowd became even louder. Team Voltron all ran to the front to accept their prizes. Lance and Hunk were full on crying, Pidge was hugging Keith so hard it looked like it was going to bruise, and Shiro and Matt were trying to graciously thank the judges.

Keith hardly took any of this in, lost in the cheers of the drunk college students. Five months of anger, frustration, disappointment, and finally the decision to move on. Five months since he decided that the toxic companies, brutal schedules, and constant criticism wasn’t worth it.

Maybe it wasn’t worth it. But he sure did miss it.

X•X•X•X

_Goodbye goodbye, if only I knew we’d say goodbye  
I wouldn’t have loved you this much_

(iKON – _GOODBYE ROAD_ )

X•X•X•X

So Shiro _might_ have a little bit of a crush. When Keith walked into the pub with Lance, yeah, he was cute. No doubt about that. And maybe it was attractive that he was smart and pretty funny, a little prickly but still seemed to warm up to them.

The problem was when he watched him sing. Keith didn’t treat the karaoke like karaoke, he treated it like a performance. Like that’s what he was born to do. And honestly, Shiro couldn’t help but think he probably was born to perform.

“Why did you go into engineering?” Shiro suddenly voiced his thoughts aloud. Keith paused from stealing a fry off of Shiro’s plate.

“Thought it seemed fun,” he shrugged.

“Nerd,” Pidge snorted.

“We’re all nerds,” Hunk said sagely.

The six of them were seated at a diner just off of campus, deciding to celebrate the end of midterm season with some cheap, greasy food.

“I don’t get why you didn’t go into dance or music or something,” Lance moaned. “Seriously, you absolutely killed that karaoke!”

“Just didn’t work out,” Keith mumbled, shoving another fry into his mouth.

“Wait, did you try out as like, an idol or something?” Lance shot up in his chair. “Or were you an idol! I bet you were!”

Shiro watched as Keith backed away from Lance, eyes wide.

“You were, weren’t you! I’m going to figure out who you were! Probably a disbanded group or something, hmm… okay, I have a lot of research to do.” Lance whipped out his phone.

“Um, good luck?” Keith asked.

“I already told you who he is,” Matt muttered angrily.

“And we already told you, you’re racist,” Lance replied.

Keith just looked confused now.

“So, ignoring Lance’s stupidity,” Pidge decided to turn the conversation a bit, “you’re really into K-pop, huh?”

“Yeah, listened to it a lot. I liked learning the songs and dances. It’s just fun.”

Pidge nodded. “I’d never really heard it until the first K-pop karaoke night. Most of us were that way. Shiro’s the only one who’s been to an actual K-pop concert before.”

“Who’d you see?” Keith asked.

“Oh, well, MAMORA came to Japan, and my friend wanted to see them,” Shiro felt his cheeks start to turn pink. “No one else could go with her, so I agreed, even though I didn’t know them. It was, well, really good.”

“And what was good about it?” Lance asked, mischievous smirk on his face.

“Well, the music, and the dances…” Shiro was going from pink into red territory.

“And what about the members?” Lance gave him his most innocent look. “Tell me about them.”

“Why did I tell you this?” Shiro groaned.

“Because you get chatty when you’re drunk. Come on, tell it. It’s funny!”

Shiro sighed. “Okay. Well, the members were like… really cute. At one point K looked at me, and well it probably wasn’t me, it was probably some cute girl beside me or something, but he looked in my direction and winked. And that was the exact moment I realised I was gay!”

Keith choked on his soda beside him.

“Are you okay? I know the Heimlich maneuver!” Hunk jumped from his seat.

“I’m fine,” Keith choked, finally finished coughing.

“Oh, sorry, I hope that didn’t freak you out! I mean, I get it, it’s like that in my country too…” Shiro couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.

“No, that’s not it at all!” Keith snapped to attention. “I have no problem with it, it’s just… not the conclusion I was expecting.”

“Oh. So we’re good?” Shiro looked at him hopefully. They’d only known each other for a few months, but he had had so much fun with Keith he didn’t want to lose him over something so stupid.

“We’re good. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t made out with guys before,” Keith shrugged.

This time it was Shiro’s turn to choke on his soda.

“Jeez, I’m going to ban you two from drinking,” Hunk sighed.

“Oh thank god. Please tell me you’re going to ask him on a date now,” Matt grumbled. “I can’t take any more pining.”

“Matt!” Shiro sounded completely scandalised.

“Come on, Shiro!” Lance chimed in. “If you don’t ask him out, then maybe I just might have to!”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Shiro glared at him.

“Hey, I’ve never really been into guys before, but I will admit I was a bit turned on on karaoke night.” He turned to Keith. “Hey, Keith, I was wondering, are you maybe free on-”

Shiro slapped his hand over Lance’s mouth. “Keith! Will you go out with me!”

Keith currently had his hand over his mouth to hide his laughter. “Yeah, sure, Shiro. I’ll go out with you.”

“Great! That’s, great. Yeah. How about- gross, Lance, did you just lick me?” Shiro ripped his hand away in disgust.

“Bleh,” Lance stuck his tongue out. “You taste like ketchup. Anyways, Keith, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, are you free on Wednesday to work on our group project?”

The glare that Shiro gave him would turn a lesser man to stone.

“Yeah, Wednesday works,” Keith smiled. “And as for our date,” Keith turned to Shiro, his smile turning devilish, “any time works for me.”

Shiro wasn’t going to survive this.

X•X•X•X

_I like it, I like this atmosphere  
I like it, I like you right now  
I’m falling for you tonight  
I wanna dance with you_

(BLACKPINK – _BOOMBAYAH_ )

X•X•X•X

“Why do so many K-pop idols go to college?” Lance asked, frowning at his laptop.

Keith looked up from his notes. “Are you studying?”

“Sure, I’m studying.”

“Okay, but are you studying engineering?”

“…no.”

Keith sighed, putting his pen down. “There’s no guarantee that your life as an idol will last. You need to have a backup in case your plans fall through.”

Lance nodded. “That makes sense. Anyways, I figured out who you are!” He gave a mischievous grin, turning the laptop to Keith.

Sitting before him was a 1500 word essay about why and how Keith was most certainly a particular obscure K-pop idol.

Keith isn’t quite sure why he read the entire thing, maybe it was curiosity, or maybe it’s because he just wanted to suffer a bit, but finally he turned the laptop back to Lance. “That isn’t me.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

“I was born in Texas, not Goyang.

Keith could almost see the gears in Lance’s head grind to a halt.

“You’re American?”

“Er, actually no,” Keith admitted. “I had to give up my dual citizenship when I turned 18. But I only moved to Korea when I was 8.”

Lance nodded. “I see I have to dig deeper.”

Keith went back to studying, and Lance went back to whatever he was doing, when Pidge ran up to their table, whisper shouting, “guys, guys!”

Pidge slapped her phone down on the table, and both boys leaned over to look at it.

“No way, MARMORA’s coming here?” Lance asked, his eyes lighting up. “Wow, we can actually go to a real K-pop concert, not just listen to a bunch of white college kids trying to speak Korean!” He looked up at Pidge. “How much are the tickets?”

“More than any of us can afford,” she pouted. “There are a couple contests going on where you can win tickets to go see them, so I’m planning to enter, like, all of them.”

“Well that sucks,” Lance sighed. Scrolling through Pidge’s phone more, he asked, “wait, doesn’t MAMORA have five members? There’s only four on the poster.”

“Yeah, apparently one of them left a few months back. Sounds like there was a lot of drama. They’re so far just going as a four-person group.”

“That sucks,” Lance pouted.

“And worst off, it’s the one Shiro had a crush on that left.”

Lance’s eyes flew open. “Holy- Keith! You should join them. Go up on stage and razzle dazzle them with your sweet MARMORA karaoke. Then Shiro can have a new person in the group he has a crush on,” Lance wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Or dating, whatever.”

Thankfully, Keith was spared from answering by whatever moron decided to pull the fire alarm. As he stood outside, shivering in the wind, he wondered how on earth none of them had figured out who he was yet.

Sure, he should just tell them. Rip the Band-Aid off, get it over with. The problem is that he had waited too long to say anything, and at this point it would just be awkward. So instead he just suffered in silence, wondering why he didn’t say anything in the first place.

Sitting in his apartment that night, he flipped through his messages from his old group members. Doyun had gotten emotional when he broke the news that they were going to be touring in America, saying it wouldn’t be the same without him. Despite only living in an average-sized city, the had begged their manager to include Keith’s city in their stop so they could visit. When Chun asked if Keith would come see them, he said that he didn’t know, that it might hurt to not be up there. But now he knew. He had to go support them, even if it hurt inside. They were like family to him, and he loved them.

He opened up the conversation with Chun, and asked him if they could spare some tickets for him and his friends.

X•X•X•X

_As long as I can breathe  
I can’t let go of you again  
We’ll be together for every moment  
Beside me_

(Dreamcatcher – _Deja Vu_ )

X•X•X•X

“Thank you again so much for letting me use your Wi-Fi,” Shiro said, packing up his laptop. “I can’t believe half the Wi-Fi on campus is down at a time like this.”

“You all done?” Keith asked, looking up from his own laptop.

“Not quite, but I don’t want to intrude when your guests arrive.”

“It’s fine, really. Although they might be a bit loud. But you can stay as long as you want.”

It would definitely be awkward if Shiro stayed, considering he would finally have to admit to being an ex K-pop idol (specifically, the one who gave Shiro his sexual awakening) but he had to tell him some day, and he didn’t want to be responsible for Shiro getting late marks on his paper.

“It’s fine. You said you haven’t seen them a while, go have fun. I can come back over tomorrow if you really want.” Shiro bent down to press a kiss to Keith’s cheek.

Just as he was standing up there was a frantic knock on the door.

Keith paused and cautiously opened the door.

“K!”

“Maknae!”

“Bogo sipeo!”

“Oof!” Keith staggered back as suddenly four people jumped on him to hug him at once. “How did you even get in here?” He asked in Korean.

“We came in as someone was leaving,” Doyun replied, subtly wiping away a tear.

“Oh,” Jinho looked up to Shiro. “Annyeonghaseyo!”

“Uh, hi,” Shiro shyly waved. “Ann.. Annyeong?”

“Nǐ hǎo? Konnichiwa?” Chun shot back.

“Konnichiwa!” Shiro nodded brightly.

“Konnichiwa!” Suddenly he had strangers hugging him, speaking to him in broken Japanese.

“Guys, guys, let him go,” Keith gently pulled them off.

“Sorry our Japanese isn’t very good,” Jun Star admitted. “But we can speak in English!”

Shiro had been told in the past that he is good at rolling with the punches, just taking things as they come. Nothing could exemplify this more than how he somehow would up sitting on the floor in the living room of his boyfriend’s apartment, eating takeout dim sum, speaking broken English with members of one of the world’s biggest boy groups.

Also, his boyfriend was apparently a member of said group.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell him,” Jinho wiped away a tear of laughter, slapping Keith on the back.

“It just didn’t come up, then it got kinda awkward to mention it.” Keith could feel his ears burning.

“At least he told me before marriage, right?” Shiro laughed sheepishly.

Lance’s reaction the next day, in Hunk’s mom’s minivan, on the way to the concert, was slightly less calm.

“What the hell do you mean! I wrote you like, eight essays guessing who you were!”

“To be fair, all your guesses were really bad,” Keith sighed.

“How was I supposed to think that you were from an actually popular group? How did no one recognise you?”

“I recognised him,” Matt pointed out.

“Yeah, but we all thought you were being racist!” Lance turned around to face Shiro. “Shiro! How did you not recognise him? You went to his concert! He gave you your sexual awakening!”

“I, um, to be honest,” Shiro sheepishly scratched his head. “I have prosopagnosia. I can’t recognise anyone by their faces.”

“That doesn’t sound real.”

“It is real!” Pidge piped up. “But I’m surprised no one on campus recognised him.”

“No one expects me to be here,” Keith shrugged. “They’re seeing me out of context, so it’s kinda like the whole Tony Hawk or Clark Kent thing. They go ‘oh wow, you look so much like K from MAMORA!’ but they assume it can’t possibly be me, because I am supposedly in Korea, and would certainly not be going to their university.”

“Except a group of like 60 K-pop fans were all piled into a single bar and watched you perform _your own song_ and still didn’t suspect something?” Matt asked.

“Yeah, I can’t explain that one.”

“Maybe none of them wanted to sound racist,” Pidge joked.

“Matt, I am so sorry,” Hunk apologised.

“Whatever,” he grumbled.

Thankfully, Matt’s mood seemed to improve with the concert, as MAMORA burst onto stage. The energy was infectious, and Keith had to admit it was fun being on the sideline, cheering his friends on. When Doyun made eye contact with Keith, who was standing at the front of the stage, he nodded and let himself be pulled up.

“Now everyone, we are going to take a tiny break here. Because I have someone here that everyone has been dying to hear from. Please welcome…” Keith turned around to face the crowd. “K!”

The screams and cheers and all around happiness of people simply seeing him and hearing his name tugged on something in Keith’s heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time. A yearning, a passion, a fire. He might have left this life behind, but it didn’t leave him.

“Annyeong, hello everyone!” Keith called to the crowd. When they quieted, Keith began to speak for real.

“I’m sorry for not speaking before, I know a lot of people wanted to hear from me, to know what my plans were. There are so many questions, and I’m sorry that I still don’t have the answers.

“After my contract was broken, I moved back to America, deciding to finish my degree and figure out what I wanted to do. I thought I was happy to move away from this life, to do something different, and start something new. But lately, I’m starting to realise how much I miss it. How much I miss all of you.

“After I finish my degree, I plan to return to Korea to do my military service. After that I don’t know where life will take me, but I promise to not keep you in the dark. Not anymore. Thank you to everyone who believed in me, and who still believes in me.”

The crowd cheered again, and Doyun burst into uncontrollable sobs. Once the crowd (and Doyun) had finally calmed down again, Chun handed Keith a spare microphone. “How about one last song with K?”

They had decided beforehand to perform “Goodbye (It’s Not Goodbye)”. It was a B-track song that Keith had written the lyrics for years before, when he was missing his father and his life in America. They felt that it best showed their feelings and emotions, as well as hopes for the future. The crowd sang along, sad and happy all at once, as Keith’s words rang out throughout the air:

_Annyeong doesn’t always have to mean goodbye_

X•X•X•X

_On this empty platform  
I did stay alone  
Don’t turn around, please just leave  
Annyeong, kiss me bye_

(Sistar – _One More Day_ , Featuring Giorgio Moroder)

X•X•X•X

Graduation time was bittersweet. Shiro was continuing his masters degree with Matt, Hunk still had one more year of electives, and Pidge had only finished her second year. Lance and Keith were the only ones to walk the stage (physically for Lance, metaphorically for Keith since he decided he in no way wanted to pay to listen to a bunch of boring speeches and eat crappy banquet food so he opted to just have his degree mailed to him).

“We still going to the next K-pop night?” Lance asked, chewing on a greasy diner fry. “It doesn’t matter if Keith and I aren’t students anymore, they allow anyone to go. I want to see the look on that prissy English boy’s face when we win for the third straight year in a row.”

“I can’t.”

Everyone looked at Keith.

“I’m going back to Korea.”

“What? Aww man, can’t you come visit in time for it at least?” Lance pleaded.

Keith shook his head. “I have to do my military service. So I won’t be able to see you guys for a couple years. Then after that… I still don’t know.”

“Well, even if you don’t come back to America, stay in touch, okay?” Pidge asked. “We would miss you too much otherwise.”

“Yeah! And if you go back to music, make sure to make plenty of tour stops in town!” Hunk agreed.

“I’ve always wanted to visit Korea, this would make a perfect excuse!” Matt chimed in.

“And I’m always beside your side, no matter what,” Shiro smiled.

At the end of day, standing outside Keith’s apartment, he asked, “will you really wait for me? To ask you to stay, when I am going so far away for so long feels selfish.”

Shiro shook his head, grabbing Keith’s hands in his own. “I want you, not because you are convenient, but because I accept all the hardships that come with you. I accept the waiting, the longing, and all the pain that comes our way, because in the end, these hardships bring you back to me. So no matter what happens, I accept it. I accept you.”

_I love you._

Keith reached up and kissed Shiro with all the emotion overwhelming him, letting him be his outlet. No matter where life takes him, he didn’t feel lost anymore. He was walking along a twisting and confusing path, but it was no longer dark, and wherever he wound up, he would make his own happiness.

X•X•X•X

_I’m looking for myself again  
But I don’t wanna die anymore  
Me, who used to be sad  
Me, who used to be hurt  
It’ll make me more beautiful_

(BTS – _Answer: Love Myself_ )

X•X•X•X

**Music Icon K Returns Home From His Military Service!**

Fans rejoice as K posts a picture to his Instagram in front of LD studios. His caption translates to, “I’m home! Going to meet some friends!”

(pic)

Does his choice of location hint at something? After almost three years, it seemed unlikely that K would be returning to MAMORA, but considering his avoidance at mentioning the scandal it seems suspicious that he would choose to post a photo from-

This website makes our entire revenue through advertisements. To help support us and continue reading this article, please turn off your ad blocker.

xxx

**Topic: Is K gay?**

-amberella-

Is he??

-europeanAardvark-

who cares if he is?

-vanity-

I mean, there is a picture on his instagram of a hunky dude kissing him on the cheek. I think that says something, lol.

-SunnyDay-

To be fair, some idols are just like that.

-MintChocoChip- (MOD)

Touché

-DoughnutDisposal-

Tbh it just makes my gay heart hopeful and confused

xxx

**LD’s New CEO Says She Is In Negotiations With K**

Allura Altea, the newest big wig of LD Entertainment, says she has been talking to K, but there is no definite outcome yet.

“He is incredibly talented. I spoke to him briefly before his military service, but we decided to hold off on any decisions until he returned. Whether he returns to us through MAMORA or as a solo act, I hope that we can strike a deal and bless the world with his talent once again.”

(Click to see all 548 comments)

xxx

**K** **✓** **@KMAMORA • 3h**

If love isn’t all your friends flying across the world just to welcome you home, then I don’t know what love is.

(pic)

X•X•X•X

_One day_   
_We’ll have to say goodbye, oh~ oh~  
We might not even be able to see each other  
At that time I’ll gain strength from my memories,  
until we meet again  
One day_

(Super Junior- _Good Friends_ )

X•X•X•X

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is entirely the fault of maliciouslycreative here on AO3, who first of showed me that K/DA song that got me into kpop in the first place, and then when I sent her the video for SHINee- Lucifer so that she could, ahem, APPRECIATE the hair and outfits, she sent back to me, "okay, but what about ex kpop star Keith?"  
> If you haven't heard the song/seen the video I highly recommend it, words can't give that mullet or furry backed vest justice. Also it's a bop.
> 
> This was hard because honestly I don't really listen to boy groups (the only songs I've actually bought are SHINee's Lucifer, and Cross Gene's Nahago Nolja) but I still wanted to include them, and while looking up BTS songs that would potentially not kill Keith to perform, I realised that WOW they are absolutely amazing dancers, and have some beautiful lyrics, and I think I accidentally became a BTS fan.  
> Anyways, hit me up with boy band song recs.
> 
> This fic wound up being less funny and more melancholic than I intended, but oh well it is what it is ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
